Former Ethereum Foundation donors and treasury firms Ether Bitmine and Sharplink have backed a novel nonprofit research and development organization aimed at preparing Ethereum for institutional apply.
Sharplink he said on Monday, the Ethlabs organization was created to “prepare Ethereum for the next phase of institutional adoption,” and the company has partnered with Bitmine, Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin and other Ethereum collaborators on the financing efforts.
“As stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, funds and autonomous AI trading move on-chain, they connect with Ethereum as a neutral, reliably permissionless settlement layer for the global economy,” Sharplink said. “Ethlabs exists to ensure the network is ready to absorb this demand at scale.”
The launch comes days after former Ethereum Foundation colleague Trenton Van Epps warned that Ethereum is facing a fundamental crisis in development financing, and amid a continuing wave of departures from the Foundation, most recently co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang, who left last week.
Source: Ethlabs
Sharplink’s statement said Ethlabs brings together “technologists who have led the network through major improvements over the past decade. This initiative provides this work with a dedicated institutional home with stable, long-term funding.”
Ethlabs was co-founded by five former Ethereum Foundation senior researchers: Ansgar Dietrichs, Barnabé Monnot, Caspar Schwarz-Schilling, Josh Rudolf, and Julian Ma.
Related: Ethereum bull David Hoffman explains why he sold his ETH
Lubin said in a statement that Ethereum is “entering the next stage of evolution” and that there should be “multiple Ethereum management nodes” that should work to augment the apply of the blockchain.
“By providing a long-term, independent home for researchers and developers developing Ethereum’s core technologies and values, Ethlabs will play a key role in preparing the network for the next big wave of adoption,” he added.
The Ethereum Foundation crisis is deepening
In May, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said that the Ethereum Foundation’s resources are narrow, noting that the organization only holds about 0.16% of the total supply of Ether (ETH).
Former EF contributor Trenton Van Epps warned last week that Ethereum risks entering a “slow funding crisis” amid continued sale of an asset by the Foundation.
“EF intentionally leaves a power vacuum so that new structures can accelerate and influence Ethereum’s direction” he said Ethereum educator David Hoffman. “I think Ethlabs’ direction paints the brightest future for Ethereum.”
Ether is trading 65% below its peak around $1,700, levels last seen in October 2023 and April 2025, while sentiment remains at crypto lows.
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